


See You Later

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: KuroDai 2019 [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Bounty Hunters, Alternate Universe - Cowboy Bebop Fusion, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Bounty Hunters, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gangs, M/M, Mild Blood, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Outer Space, Unrequited Love, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 15:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20099764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Kuroo has gone off on a suicidal mission to face the boss of a powerful crime syndicate and Sawamura tries to convince himself that it's time to let him go.





	See You Later

There was an electrical problem in the ship. Usually that would be a good place to start, knowing not only there was a problem but where it stemmed from but it was a  _ goddamn spaceship _ that was made up of nothing but electrical components so Daichi stood in the engine room, twirling a torch wrench in obvious irritation. He couldn’t even convince him that perhaps he would get lucky and find the problem early on. Sawamura Daichi was many things but luck and him have never even been in the same room. It didn’t help that Daichi was hungry and he was short tempered to begin with, adding hunger into that mix was never a good thing. But Daichi had gotten use to hunger pains when he quit the ISSP and lived on the rewards from bounty hunting, which was sporadic at best especially with the way Tetsurou was acting.

The thought of the other man deepended Daichi’s scowl, he caught the handle of the torque wrench in his cybernetic arm and squeezed. Tetsurou was a damn good bounty hunter, probably one of the best. Teaming up with him had been logical. Tetsurou needed a ship that could travel off world and Daichi wanted someone to do the actual bounty hunting while he manned the ship and handed backup if it was needed. It was usually needed, Tetsurou was one of the best but that didn’t help someone who had a death wish.

The metal in his hand made a worrying noise so he switched it to his flesh and bone hand, noting the indents where his fingers had dug in. It was still usable but Daichi had just enough of the small pity party he was throwing for himself that was more an excuse to procrastinate than anything.

Daichi was elbow deed in wires and metal when he got an itch on the back of his neck. Well into his thirties he had learned a long time ago to trust his instincts, they were what had managed to keep him alive after having two different but equally dangerous jobs. But he was in the heart of his ship and only a handful of people could have come into the engine room without tripping his alarms so he mostly ignored them as he continued to look for the problem.

“I’m heading out.” Tetsurou’s voice was some distance away.

“Where-” Daichi’s words caught in his throat as he turned his head to look at Tetsurou. Daichi knew what that look a person got in their eyes when they were heading into the eye of a storm. Daichi’s throat went dry and tight as he took in Tetsurou’s purposefully relaxed position. His shoulders gave him away, too high and tight to be anything but real tension.

“See you later.” Tetsurou gave a two finger salute before turning around to walk away.

“You don’t have to do this.” Daichi said to his back but Tetsurou only gave a half hearted wave before turning the corner and disappearing from sight. Daichi listened to the steady footfalls that quieted the further they got away.

Daichi could run after him, make a damn fool of himself trying to list all the reasons Tetsurou should stay but those instincts were yelling again. He knew nothing he could say that would change a mind made up years before Daichi had even knew Tetsurou. Daichi could say  _ I love you, please don’t do this _ but while he was aware he was morally gray even he knew decent folks didn’t push their feelings off onto a dying man.

Tetsurou was a dead man, Daichi knew that. Everyone knew it. Daichi could hear the rise of Tooru’s voice as he figured out where Tetsurou was heading off too. Tooru was a good con artist but when he couldn’t charm his way into things he resorted to using his sharp intellect to get what he wanted. If he was shouting then he knew he was losing the battle.

Tooru loved Tetsurou too.

Daichi’s been an unlucky man in most aspects of his life but the one thing that has never let him down is his ship. He takes care of her and she takes him where he needs to go. So he pushes aside the swirling mass of negative emotions to concentrate on a problem that he can fix but his hard fought inner peace is disturbed quickly.

“You didn’t try and stop him?” Tooru asks accusingly as if he believed Daichi held any influence over Tetsurou. “You know he’ll die and for what? A whore who betrayed him multiple times?” Tooru got nasty when his emotions ran high, the word  _ whore _ was spit out by a man who had been called much worse for the jobs he had taken because of a debt that was no fault of his own.

Daichi resisted trying to rub some of the tension out of the back of his neck considering his hands were covered in grease and oil and god knows what else. He remembers the days when it was just him and his ship, taking jobs that he knew he could handle. Peaceful, quiet, horridly lonely. Daichi thought it was only a matter of time before Tooru and Kenma both up and left. Tetsurou was forever bringing home strays and without him here their little family would fall apart.

“He has had this plan before he knew either of us.” Daichi reminded Tooru. The man might not remember a thing of his past but he didn’t forget anything since being woken up and used as a tool. Tooru knew all this but he wanted someone to yell at and considering Tetsurou had gone off to get himself killed Daichi was the next best thing. “This-” Daichi motioned with his metal hand, encompassing himself, the ship and everyone aboard it. “Was always temporary for him. He was always just waiting for the right moment to-” Daichi stopped and shrugged because they both knew what he meant but he didn’t want to say the words out loud. As if that somehow made it more true.

“You can’t be fine with this.” Tooru said as if to convince himself.

Daichi stared down at his cybernetic arm. It had been his choice to cut his real one off and replace it. His partner had betrayed him, nearly gotten him killed but his arm had taken most of the damage. It would have been months of recovery and even the doctors assured him he would never have full function of the limb back ever again. Even so Daichi was adaptable, he would have made due and figured out how to continue on with his life. But the mangled limb would always stand as a mark his partner had left on him, so he cut the damn thing off and replaced it with something that would only be there to remind him not to put his trust in others.

Perhaps that was one of the main reasons Daichi and Tetsurou had functioned so well together for years when they greatly differed in personalities. Tetsurou didn’t trust anyone either, though he had at one time. He didn’t talk much about his time in the Red Dragon Syndicate, Daichi got enough hints that Tetsurou had the choice to join or die on the streets. Daichi didn’t even know the name of the man Tetsurou had thrown his whole life to be with, risking the ire of the syndicate not only by leaving, no one left unless it was due to death, and taking the bosses- what? Boyfriend was too mundane of a term, favorite possession was probably closer to the truth. Daichi had no doubt that Tetsurou could have kept them both safe and happy for a long time to come no matter the syndicates reach but he had been betrayed.

The one person Tetsurou trusted, possibly the only person he had ever loved turned against him at the request of the boss. Daichi couldn’t even really blame him. The Red Dragon Syndicate was a nasty piece of work and the boss was always the worst of the worst. Daichi’s own partner had betrayed him for that same group, greedy for the money and power they could give him that the ISSP wouldn’t.

Either way Tetsurou had been betrayed, had been hurt badly but that hadn’t stopped him from going back after he was healed to fulfill his promise. Tetsurou might have been raised by criminals, he might have committed horrible crimes and had no moral compass to speak of but he kept his word. Deep down he was a man who cared deeply, though most couldn’t see that. Daichi had only glimpsed it a few times and most of them were by accident.

Tetsurou had gone back and the man who had betrayed him, the one who had somehow earned cowboys trust and love, went with him. Daichi’s not sure where it went wrong, Tetsurou was always methodical with his planning. Perhaps he didn’t believe the crime boss would hurt the man but they killed him and Tetsurou had been planning his revenge since.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you.” Tooru’s voice is soft but no less strong for it. Daichi forces himself to continue his search for the electrical problem even as his heart tries to beat out of his chest.

Daichi had purposefully ignored the signs of his partners descent into the criminal world. He had been naive and he had wanted to believe in the goodness of people. Since that went up in flames he had started playing particularly close attention to those around him. Even if that wasn’t true he most likely would have still noticed what had cropped up between himself and Tetsurou.

There was a lot of long days and nights as a bounty hunter when no bounties were to be found. What had started off as boredom, curiosity, too much liquor, and mostly two lonely souls turned into something more that neither were willing to discuss. Sleeping in each others bunks, and on the kitchen counter or helm or couch, had mostly stopped when their ship had started his eclectic collection of people and animals. Things were easier when there wasn’t an amnesiac conman, an oddball hacker genius kid, and a genetically engineered dog on board.

Tetsurou had left bits and pieces of himself all around what had once been Daichi’s ship. Daichi knew himself well enough to know that he wasn’t likely to forget any of it for a very long time.

If Daichi let himself think about it for too long he could recall just how much of a mouthy smartass Tetsurou was no matter what position they were in. He knew the touch and taste of the other man, the way he arched into Daichi’s arms, how he collapsed against Daichi’s chest after they were done like a contented cat, as if it were merely an accident that he landed on Daichi and refused to let him move when they both were well aware that nothing Tetsurou did was accidental. Daichi knew the raise of his eyebrows, the pleasantly surprised look his face got whenever Daichi made them food with the little bit of money they had.

After Daichi’s wife had left him, stating he was  _ too much _ to stay together, he had sworn of any romantic entanglements. But Tetsurou had wormed his way underneath Daichi’s skin, into the very heart of him and his ship and neither would be the same again.

Daichi took a deep breath and continued to do his job because what else was he going to do? Tooru might love Tetsurou but it wasn’t like he was going after him either. They both knew the odds of anyone coming out of the syndicate compound was slim to none. Tooru might not enjoy every aspect of his new life but he still didn’t want to die, which was why he was yelling at Daichi instead of storming the metaphorical castle with Tetsurou. Not that Tetsurou would let anyone else die for or with him but it was a moot point.

Tooru stormed off and a couple moments later the ships AI pinged to inform him that his ship had detached and left. Daichi wasn’t sure if he’d ever see Tooru again though at one point Tooru had called this the only home he knew.

Things change, time passes, people die.

Two or three hours later the AI pinged again. He stopped whispering pleas to find the electrical short and turned his head to look at the message. Someone was trying to deposit funds into his account. Daichi frowned as the message attached to the money started to play.

Seeing Tetsurou’s face was like a gut punch to the stomach. Daichi hadn’t realized he had already begun to mourn the loss of the other man but he sat hard on the grated floor, dirty hands gripping his knees tightly as Tetsurou smirked half-heartedly at the camera. There was a nasty bruise on his left cheek that had faded to an ugly yellow-brown color and it helped Daichi date the video. It had to have been filmed only a month prior.

“I’m giving you everything in my account, it’s not much but-” Tetsurou shrugged as he fiddled with something off screen before sliding a cigarette between his lips. “I’d all of given up this shit when I had you but with the kid and Tooru, even the damn dog seemed set on interrupting every moment- sad excuse for a substitute for you.” Tetsurou pulled the cigarette out to give it a baleful look as he blew smoke out of his mouth. Daichi had hated the smell of them, badgered the other man to quit or at least not smoke aboard his ship because it had a habit of sinking into every inch of a place. Daichi hadn’t realized Tetsurou had swapped one habit for another.

Was that what Daichi was for Tetsurou? A bad habit to release stress?

“Don’t be a stubborn idiot and do something idiotic and donate it all, fix up that piece of shit ship or better yet get one that doesn’t threaten to break apart on you if you breath the wrong way.” Tetsurou ordered, causing Daichi to scowl because he had been thinking about donating the money. He didn’t want a dead man's money.

“She always got us where we needed to go.” Daichi argued, fingers touching the nearest wall to him, smearing oil over it but she wouldn’t mind too much. She fit him, she had fit them. A little broken, a little ugly and underappreciated but she got the job done.

“I guess she never failed us, right?” Tetsurou took a deep drag of his cigarette then exhaled. “I don’t even know why I’m making this damn thing. You’ve been convincing me for months not to follow through with my plan, even though I don’t think that was what you were trying to do. We probably argued, right? I’m sorry if I said something insulting, I don’t mean half the shit that comes out of my mouth. You probably hogtied me and sat on me until I changed my mind. I should let you know I let you win, we both know I’m the better fighter.” There was that infuriating smile again.

“What?” Daichi asked, rising up to his knees so he could stare directly into the holograms eyes. “You wanted me to fight?” Was Tetsurou looking for an excuse not to go? Had Daichi misread the situation?

“Either way I’m sorry for however I ended up dying, you were worth living for Sawamura Daichi.” Tetsurou flicked the cigarette away while simultaneously blowing smoke out.

“No wait-”

“Goodbye love.” The message flickered out and Daichi was left utterly alone.

Had he screwed up? Did Tetsurou come to him not to say goodbye but for an excuse to stay? And Daichi had answered by doing nothing, stay silent. Should he have begged and pleaded as Tooru had done? Yelled and screamed? Daichi didn’t think it would have made a difference but now he wasn’t so sure.

Daichi stood up and pressed his flesh and bone hand against the wall of his ship. He sent a small apology to her because the chances of him coming back weren’t in his favor and he wasn’t sure the next person who got her would be so kind to her. Daichi wasn’t afraid of dying, not in the way Tooru was. He knew himself, knew his strengths but better yet, knew his weaknesses. He couldn’t fight as well or as fancy like Tetsurou could, he wasn’t nearly as smart as the man or even Tooru but he was strong and there was no quit in him when he had a goal in mind. The cybernetic arm was top of the line, the ISSP had paid for it because they felt responsible and thought he would rejoin them after he had healed. He was a damn good shot and whether he hit with his new right arm or old left one, people tended to stay down afterwards.

It had been too long, Tetsurou had too much of a head start on Daichi. If Tetsurou was dead then Daichi would just have to finish off his plan, weaken the Red Dragon in a way that it would take them a while to rebuild themselves. The syndicate and those like them were tough like that, cockroaches some might call. They were killed and imprisoned by the dozens but it never stopped them for long.

Daichi studied the layout of the compound on his way there. He still had a lot of buddies in the ISSP who were willing to slip him information here and there, most of them he didn’t even have to pay them for their help. Despite some of the things he had done since becoming a bounty hunter he wasn’t a criminal, wasn’t close to it and couldn’t think like them. So all he could do was assume where there would be guards, the kind of weapons and security they would have.

Daichi thought of the first time he had met Kuroo Tetsurou as he crept closer to the compound. They had been going after the same bounty, Daichi had managed the tag but years later he could admit that he wouldn’t have been able to do it without Tetsurou’s help. Tetsurou had seemed skeptical that Daichi would give him half the reward, he had been skinnier back them. Broke money and spirit wise with hollow eyes and body language that screamed distrust. So Daichi had done something that would have made his deceased parents proud, he took him to his ship, made him a meal and then gave him half the reward as promised.

It took a lot of time and effort for that hollow look to fade from Tetsurou’s face, even longer for the other man to even start to trust Daichi. It helped that Daichi was tenacious, that he kept his word and while honor might be a thing people spit upon, Daichi had it in spades. It meant that he was taken advantage of a lot, Tetsurou even liked to joke that he took advantage of it but he also made sure that no one else with bad intentions was ever put in the position where they could hurt Daichi.

They had been partners in every sense of the word. Daichi hadn’t even realized that he had stopped thinking darkly about his past and simply moved on, moved forward. Even seeing his ex-wife hadn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. Tetsurou had been close by, waiting in their ship with a bottle of liquor they couldn’t afford and a lazy smile that held many promises.

Daichi stepped over and around bodies that littered the ground like fallen leaves. He recognized Tetsurou’s work when he saw it. Rewards were bigger for bounties brought in alive and Tetsurou had gotten very skilled at keeping those he fought alive. It didn’t change the fact that dead was much easier to deal with and Tetsurou did that very well too.

Daichi hadn’t fought Tetsurou leaving because he thought it was pointless. He didn’t understand that the trust went both way, that two men who had been betrayed by those they loved most had rebuilt themselves and learned to trust each other. He thought most of the feelings went one way. He had realized too late that Tetsurou had built himself a home and had wanted Daichi to talk him out of following through with his plan. A plan he came up with when he felt he had nothing, had no one.

That delicate trust had been broken and it was Daichi who had done the hurting, not the other way around. Two stupid old men, that’s what they were.

The gun Daichi held fit his hand like an old friend. Tetsurou had snickered at the relic, always teasingly asked Daichi if he owned anything from this century. Daichi couldn’t help that his tastes were better suited to a long gone past, he liked his music and his old gun. He liked making meals for more than just himself, he liked sharing space with others, he liked hand sewing the rips and holes Tetsurou always managed to get in his clothes. He loved all of that and he almost let it all go without a fight.

Following the bodies seemed to be the right choice because where those bodies ended was most likely to lead to Tetsurou. Daichi knew better than to just stroll casually through, he took his time, peered around corners and down hallways, kept his gun up and his finger ready. Daichi couldn’t tell if Tetsurou had gotten hurt, there was too much blood and the number of enemies seemed too large for Tetsurou not to have taken at least a couple hits. Some of the bodies looked like they hadn’t even had a chance to draw their guns, which led Daichi to believe that at least Tetsurou wasn’t complete suicidal and come in guns blazing. He was using a silencer.

Daichi looked into a large open room, gun still held up but there was no movement. There were more bodies in there but the one that caught Daichi’s eye was the crime lords. His head was several meters away from his body, Daichi came to the easy conclusion that at least Tetsurou had gotten his revenge. He still cleared the room before following a trail of blood that had Daichi’s heart beating faster by the sheer amount of it.

The stairs led to a roof. There was another body, this one gave Daichi a pause but he still cleared the roof before locking the door so no one could sneak up behind him. He holstered his gun before kneeling next to the long and lean body he had known so well. Tetsurou was tall with tightly packed muscles but Daichi was strong and flipped him gently, fingers searching for a pulse underneath all that blood.

It beat erradictly and faintly but it was still there. Daichi called his ship to himself. He hadn’t wanted to come in with her least she get shot down in the sky but those worries slipped away now that he had his hands on Tetsurou again. He was cold to the touch and unmoving, Daichi did his best to plug up and wrap the holes he could see but he knew the other man needed a hospital.

The rest was a blur. Sirens started going off in the compound but by then Daichi had already loaded Tetsurou into his ship and was headed to the nearest hospital. The staff hadn’t looked happy to see him, covered in blood and holding a man riddled with bullet holes but they breathed a sigh of relief when he flashed them his bounty hunter license. They didn’t ask any further questions after that, cowboys got shot at everyone knew that.

Daichi cleaned off in the bathroom the best he could but there was really nothing to be done for his stained clothing. He stared down at his miss-matching hands and thought of his ex-wife of all things. They had gotten married young before either had a chance to grow into the adults they would become. Daichi had seen a lot working at the ISSP, too much and that had made him protective of his tiny little wife with her innocent backwater thinking. She trusted too easily, a thing Daichi had been accused of and he worried about her constantly. She hated the man Daichi had become. Jaded and a little harsh with a sharp tongue and a temper to match, but he would never turn any of that on anyone he cared for.

Tetsurou had accepted him for all he was, not just the good parts but all the broken and ugly bits that made him who he was. Tetsurou had laughed when Daichi snapped at him, teased back, yelled and hollered when it was called for and sometimes when it wasn’t. They weren’t perfect, nowhere near it and sharing a small space like the ship and being constantly broke didn’t help matters. But they were good for each other. Tetsurou knew exactly when to push or tease and when to just stay silent and be there. In return Daichi had done the same.

When one of the medics came to inform him of Tetsurou’s condition there was only really one thing for Daichi to do. He went to Tetsurou’s room to check and make sure the other man was still alive even if the doctor had said his prognosis looked good. Couple broken ribs, punctured lung, fractured radius, sprained ankle, and a handful of broken fingers and a couple hundred stitches to patch him back together.

Daichi placed a tiny spherical messenger on the tray attached to Tetsurou’s bed, right by the water where he would see it and be able to reach it without much trouble. He then bent down to brush black hair off of a warm forehead, pressing a kiss against the smooth skin. It was probably the only part of Tetsurou not littered with scars though he had no doubt added to that number with his latest stunt.

“See you later.” Daichi mumbled the words spoken to him before straightening up and walking out of the hospital room. There was nothing much that he could do here that the staff wasn’t already taking care of and his ship had nearly dropped out of the sky on the way here. It was a problem Daichi could fix and he needed something he could concentrate on.

It took him nearly two days to find the problem and less than five minutes to fix it. Afterwards he was running a diagnosis, making sure he had found  _ the problem _ instead of another one. Kenma had packed up their meager belongings and left a full day beforehand, the little corgi trailing after them. Daichi didn’t blame either of them, they had followed Tetsurou onboard and now Tetsurou was gone.

“Piece of shit.” Daichi mumbled to the tablet in his hands that kept stalling and shutting down, refusing to tell him the end results of the diagnosis.

“How come whenever I say that I get a dirty look?” Daichi’s head snapped up, watched as Tetsurou limped his way up the ramp into the ship. Daichi thought it was probably luck that the ramp was down because he had been loading food into the ship because there was no way Tetsurou could have climbed a ladder looking the way he did. “Yeah, that look.” Tetsurou went to motion with his right hand, which was in a sling, and winced with clear regret at the movement.

“You came back.” Daichi said, voice a bit gruff as he tried to pull all his emotions inward. The message he had left told Tetsurou he always had a home to come back to but part of him didn’t believe he’d ever see the other man again, that he’d leave just as the other three had left. He was really going to miss that damn dog.

“You have all my money.” Tetsurou limped further into the ship, sitting down on the battered couch with a sound that was half pain and half relief. Daichi hit the button to raise the ramp, as if still partially afraid Tetsurou would take off. As if he could get very far in the state he was in.

“If you think you’re getting that back you’re out of your mind.” Daichi had used it to pay Tetsurou’s hospital bills so he wouldn’t wake up in debt, then left a little bit that would get Tetsurou anywhere he wanted to go. Daichi would keep the rest of it and put it into repairs for the ship the other man constantly mocked.

“That’s rude Dai, where is the innocent country bumpkin who was so polite the first time we met?” Tetsurou asked, relaxing into the couch as Daichi shoved the tablet into its holder. Screw the diagnostic, he was going to get them out of here before the syndicate rebuilt itself and the new boss decided to make a name for themselves by killing the old lords killer.

“Fuck off.” Daichi grumbled as he headed towards the controls of the ship.

“Aw, that’s adorable, you remember your first words to me.” Daichi sat in the pilots chair, flicking switches to get his old girl up and running again. He glanced at the various monitors, taking in the reports she was giving him before his eyes settled on the cam from the main deck, where Daichi had made a sort of living room area. Tetsurou had spread out across the couch like he had no plans of moving anytime in the next century. “Are we leaving?” His voice came out staticky from the coms but Daichi heard him clearly as the ship warmed up, humming underneath his feet as if she too were eager to leave.

Just the two of them and their ship, as it always had been.

  
  
  


_ See you space cowboy... _

**Author's Note:**

> KuroDai 2019  
May 11th, Day 6: 90s Anime AU
> 
> Question, why are 90s anime so angsty? Or was it more like the ones I watched were unintentionally angsty. I was going to go the whole actually unrequited love and Kuroo dies ending but while I'm all for the angst I really just want happy endings. Also I've always wanted to write a Cowboy Bebop AU forever!


End file.
